the will to exist

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be subject to FOIA

Trevor — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:23:34 +0000

I complain a lot about government. That’s because government has a monopoly on force. The federal government of the U.S. also has a monopoly on printing money. If you control the guns and the butter, then you should be watched closely and criticized often and loudly, particularly if you are dishonest.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are dishonest entities. They have added $5.4 trillion in debt to the national bill.

Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act suit last August after FHFA refused the watchdog group’s request for such documents. Officials at FHFA acknowledged having control of such documents but said they weren’t obligated under the FOIA to release them. Fannie and Freddie were established as semi-independent government-supported entities. But they went under FHFA control after taxpayers had to bail them out. It is estimated that taxpayers are on the hook for at least $5.4 trillion in liabilities that resulted from bad mortgage investments by Fannie and Freddie.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Time-for-sunshine_-Fannie-and-Freddie-87252627.html#ixzz0hsxqQeVN

The members of Congress who have received campaign contributions from these quasi-government, government controlled entities should be subject to criminal trials for accepting bribes. These are the same entities that helped create the current landscape of massive foreclosures and bankruptcies by facilitating irresponsible loans to unqualified, irresponsible borrowers.

Open information models should be legally required for all government and quasi-government entities by Constitutional amendment. First, though, and more important, we need to restore federal respect for the limitations placed on government by the Constitution. At this point, I’m not sure how that will happen without a complete do-over of some kind.Similar Posts:

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Porn, tech and mores

Trevor — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:22:36 +0000

From an article I recently read claiming that pornography might be good for us:

According to the conservative media watchdog group Family Safe Media, the porn industry makes more money than the top technology companies combined, including Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Amazon.

Without debating the relative merits of porn, if there are any besides temporary satiation of carnal desires, I find it fascinating that moving and still pictures of naked people copulating generate more revenue than the top technology companies combined. I suppose it makes perfect sense. After all, every human being on the planet is pretty much hard wired to enjoy looking at naked people of one or both sexes. All the counter programming that human societies attempt to instantiate (mostly via religion) cannot overpower basic biological programming.

Whether we admit it or not, our genitals and our brains work together to influence our thoughts and actions.

The illegality of prostitution in most U.S. jurisdictions continues to bother me on about the same level as the federal government’s continuing need to pretend that the War on Drugs is somehow making the United States a better place to live. As a society, we are doing a woefully poor job of channeling natural behaviors into more constructive venues. If violent video games are outlawed too, we’ll have an unholy triumvirate of repression and suppression of natural human urges. While I don’t think that will happen, it really makes me wonder how long we’ll continue the juvenile societal attitudes and puritan set of mores we have towards human sexuality in America.

Tech is definitely changing sexual mores in this country. I get the distinct impression from generations younger than mine that ideas like polyamory, open relationships and casual sex with many partners are getting a new look. And when it comes to acceptance of homosexuality, I know attitudes are changing drastically. My feeling is that porn must have played a role in the changing attitudes. Even more important, technology was the delivery vehicle for most of the porn.

Technology and porn aren’t just changing sexual mores in the U.S. Sites like 4chan have worldwide reach, and they affect the way their audiences think. They change the memeset. In two generations, human sexual mores of the technorati will be completely alien to a typical 20th century American.Similar Posts:

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Observations on the Barnes and Noble Nook

Trevor — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:57:08 +0000

I have more than a dozen books and several dozen technical PDF books on my Nook at this time. I’ve been using the product for about a month.

If you are considering buying a Nook here are some things to think about:

Barnes and Noble isn’t doing a good job making store employees into Nook evangelists. At my local store in Chattanooga they could care less about Nooks or Nook accessories.
Barnes and Noble keeps promising different dates for Nook and Nook items to be carried in stores. I’ve been waiting to look at and touch covers for my Nook for 60 days. This is frustrating.
Nook software continues to improve. The last update took me to version 1.20. Pages turn more “naturally” now and the Nook itself powers up and down a bit quicker.
Sometimes while holding the Nook, pages change by themselves or the color navigation screen lights up and kicks me out of my book. This is due to oversensitivity of the controls.

Buying books is a fairly simple process but there are not enough technical books available yet for the Nook. Additionally, I’m used to Amazon’s web site telling me about the kind of books I want to buy. Barnes and Noble’s site keeps pushing garbage I don’t want to read. It is insulting to be directed towards Twilight novels when I am absolutely not and never will be a part of the demographic that wants to read about glittery morally upright vampires who enjoy dating humans and attending high school prom even though they are hundreds of years old.Similar Posts:

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Get your degree in nanoscience

Trevor — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:12:24 +0000

One of my long-term goals is to learn more in the field of nanotechnology, which I find fascinating. It looks like I’m not alone in thinking about the development of the field of nanotech. Dakota County Technical College is starting an AAS program for aspiring practitioners of nanoscience. Minnesota is cold but who cares! Totally worth putting up with cold to learn about nanotech.

(Nanowerk News) NanoProfessor, a division of NanoInk, Inc.® focused on nanotechnology education, is pleased to announce that its NanoProfessor Nanoscience Education Program is currently underway at Dakota County Technical College (DCTC), in Rosemount, Minn. Once completed, students enrolled in the DCTC program, will possess the knowledge and hands-on experience needed to pursue a career in the high-tech world of nanotechnology. DCTC offers a 2-year AAS Degree in Nanoscience and was the first 2-year technical college to offer a multi-disciplinary nanoscience AAS degree. The NanoProfessor program will provide in depth experimental opportunities for students in the first semester of the program. Comparable hands-on nanotechnology education programs have traditionally only been available at large, prestigious 4-year universities with graduate programs.

“Nanotechnology is a growing aspect of virtually every industry in Minnesota, the U.S. and the world, and it will require a workforce that has a fundamental knowledge of nanotechnology and the hands-on skills to complete the nanotech-oriented jobs of today and the future. Exclusivity to an education in nanotechnology is not the answer,” said Deb Newberry, director of the Nanoscience Technology Program at DCTC. “Together with NanoProfessor, Dakota County Technical College is helping meet this demand by creating opportunities for our students that previously they could only dream about.”

(Nanowerk News) NanoProfessor, a division of NanoInk, Inc.® focused on nanotechnology education, is pleased to announce that its NanoProfessor Nanoscience Education Program is currently underway at Dakota County Technical College (DCTC), in Rosemount, Minn. Once completed, students enrolled in the DCTC program, will possess the knowledge and hands-on experience needed to pursue a career in the high-tech world of nanotechnology. DCTC offers a 2-year AAS Degree in Nanoscience and was the first 2-year technical college to offer a multi-disciplinary nanoscience AAS degree. The NanoProfessor program will provide in depth experimental opportunities for students in the first semester of the program. Comparable hands-on nanotechnology education programs have traditionally only been available at large, prestigious 4-year universities with graduate programs.”Nanotechnology is a growing aspect of virtually every industry in Minnesota, the U.S. and the world, and it will require a workforce that has a fundamental knowledge of nanotechnology and the hands-on skills to complete the nanotech-oriented jobs of today and the future. Exclusivity to an education in nanotechnology is not the answer,” said Deb Newberry, director of the Nanoscience Technology Program at DCTC. “Together with NanoProfessor, Dakota County Technical College is helping meet this demand by creating opportunities for our students that previously they could only dream about.”

I probably will have to wait until after I get a doctorate in management of information systems to expand my formal education into this fascinating field but eventually, I believe I will attend a similar program, even if I have to wait until I am retired to do so.

In the mean time, if you are young and wondering what career to pursue, read this:

By 2015, the National Science Foundation has projected that the world will require a skilled workforce of more than two million nanotechnologists. The field of nanotechnology is already pioneering breakthroughs and innovations in the areas of energy, medicine and electronics, which will have a profound impact on lives in the 21st century.

If you want to be involved in what will be one of the most exciting and controversial as well as life changing fields in human history, think about nanotechnology.Similar Posts:

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Bonne chance, Haiti cherie

Trevor — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:20:07 +0000

I used to live in Haiti as a child. I haven’t commented on the earthquake until now because I really have nothing worth your time to add to the conversation.

Edwidge Danticat, on the other hand, does. Her tale of a dead cousin is well worth reading.

Maxo was a hustler. He could get whatever he wanted, whether money or kind words, simply by saying, “You know I love you. I love you. I love you.” It always worked with our family members in New York, both when he occasionally showed up to visit and when he called from Haiti to ask them to fund his various projects.

The last time I heard from him was three days before the earthquake. He left a message on my voice mail. He was trying to raise money to rebuild a small school in the mountains of Léogâne, where our family originated. The time before that, someone in the neighborhood had died and money was needed for a coffin. With a voice that blended shouting and laughter, Maxo made each request sound as though it were an investment that the giver would be making in him or herself.

Haitians, by and large, are not included in the technorati. Their lives do not leave large digital footprints behind, at least for the ones who remain trapped in Haiti by the policies of strangers. Haitian lives though are worth re-examining at this time, as are American immigration policies related to Haitians. Why do we have one standard for Cubans and a completely different one for Haitians? Haiti has been a breeding ground for dictators for hundreds of years, and the people living under them suffer greatly as a result. Even more though, Haitians suffer because their giant Northern neighbor fails to care enough.

Now that we have a humanitarian disaster of nearly unprecedented proportions on our hands, maybe some of our politicians and diplomats can find new solutions as they try to rebuild a country that has (as long as I’ve been alive at least) been given more than its share of misery and despair.

It is too late for Maxo but not for the millions of Haitians who remain.Similar Posts:

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